A recent survey in Nigeria’s Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) industry has adjudged Bigi, a product from the stable of Rite Foods Limited, as the number CSB in the market.
The survey, which was for the month of October, disclosed that the product owns a market share of 30 percent far ahead of two international brands, struggling with a joint 29 percent of market share
Bigi which is an indigenous product with its production plant in Ososa, Ogun State, entered the Nigerian market in less than 10 years and has gained acceptability in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector.
The survey report further indicated that in Lagos which is Nigeria’s biggest and most vibrant economy, Bigi also led the CSD market as number one with a market share of about 40 percent, while the other two brands come in at about 36 percent and 16 percent respectively.
The survey maintained that Rite Foods Limited, owners of the Bigi brand, have achieved this feat with operations from one single PET plant located at its world class factory in Ososa, Ogun State, with plans for expansion still very much in the works as against six and four plants of the foreign brands plants spread across locations in the country.
In fact, in the industry today, Bigi products remain the only top tier CSD brand making use of healthy, natural sugar in producing its drinks. Most of the competition out there today make use of Sucralose, an artificial sweetener, to substitute for natural sugar, in a cost-cutting measure, the report said.
The dangers of artificial sweeteners like Sucralose are not to be trifled with. Chemists make sucralose by attaching chlorine molecules to normal refined white sugar.